The feat of the submarine "Evangelista Toriccheli" in the Red Sea
After Italy entered the Second World War in June 1940, the Red Sea became a theater of operations. In the Italian colony of Eritrea, the Massawa naval base was deployed. The rest of the Red Sea coast belonged to the British, the French, or their allies.
23 June 1940 of the year at the exit from the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden near the small island of Perim, one of the most amazing battles between surface ships and a submarine took place.
The commander of the Italian submarine Evangelista Torichcheli, Captain 3 of the rank of Salvatore Pelosi, was assigned to patrol around Djibouti. At the position of his boat was faced with the active anti-submarine defense of the British and, changing the course, went to its shores. She returned on the surface, as she could not dive due to damage. North of Perima, the boat met the English sloop "Shoreham", which urgently called for help.
The submarine had one 120-mm gun and opened fire first, hitting the sloop with a second projectile, and later it was taken to Aden for repairs.
In the meantime, the Indian sloop "Hindu" approached the place of the battle, and then the division of new English destroyers. 19-mm 120-mm and 4-102-mm guns, plus a lot of machine guns turned against the only cannon of the boat.
Captain Pelosi took the fight. He fired all the torpedoes at the destroyers Kingston, Kandahar and Khartoum, while continuing to shoot from a cannon. The British dodged torpedoes, but one of the shells hit Khartoum. Only half an hour after the start of the battle, the boat received a shell in the stern that damaged the steering device, a fragment wounded Pelosi.
After some time, the Evangelista Toriccheli weapon was broken by a direct hit. Having exhausted all possibilities for resistance, the captain ordered the ship to sink. The survivors were taken aboard the destroyer Kandahar, moreover, Pelosi was met by British officers with a military salute. Onboard the destroyer, the Italians watched as the fire on Khartoum increased.
It ended with the explosion of ammunition and the destruction of the destroyer. Khartoum (1690 t, 1939 built) was considered the newest ship. The case when the submarine drowns the destroyer in an artillery battle has no analogues in the sea stories.
The British praised the valor of the Italian submariners. Pelosi and his senior officer in Aden were invited to an official dinner, where the commander of Khartoum was present, with whom they exchanged toasts. Then Pelosi was received as a senior naval officer in the Red Sea by Rear Admiral Murray.
In addition to the losses suffered by British ships, the British launched 700 shells and five hundred machine gun stores to sink one submarine. "Torichchel" went under the water with a waving battle flag, which can be raised only in the sight of the enemy. Valor appreciated, Pelonesi was awarded the highest military award of Italy "Medal D Or Al Valor Military" - Gold Medal for Military Valor.
However, the feat of captain Pelosi and his crew could not change the situation as a whole. Italian for the first two weeks of the fighting flotilla submarines in the Red Sea, decreased by exactly half. Three boats were lost and one surrendered. The achieved result was clearly lower than expected: the tanker, destroyer and sloop (corvette) were sunk and another sloop was damaged. Even taking into account that the Italian Somalia and Eritrea were separate enclaves, soon cut off from the mother country, nevertheless, under no circumstances could this result be considered satisfactory.
23 June 1940 of the year at the exit from the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden near the small island of Perim, one of the most amazing battles between surface ships and a submarine took place.
The commander of the Italian submarine Evangelista Torichcheli, Captain 3 of the rank of Salvatore Pelosi, was assigned to patrol around Djibouti. At the position of his boat was faced with the active anti-submarine defense of the British and, changing the course, went to its shores. She returned on the surface, as she could not dive due to damage. North of Perima, the boat met the English sloop "Shoreham", which urgently called for help.
The submarine had one 120-mm gun and opened fire first, hitting the sloop with a second projectile, and later it was taken to Aden for repairs.
In the meantime, the Indian sloop "Hindu" approached the place of the battle, and then the division of new English destroyers. 19-mm 120-mm and 4-102-mm guns, plus a lot of machine guns turned against the only cannon of the boat.
Captain Pelosi took the fight. He fired all the torpedoes at the destroyers Kingston, Kandahar and Khartoum, while continuing to shoot from a cannon. The British dodged torpedoes, but one of the shells hit Khartoum. Only half an hour after the start of the battle, the boat received a shell in the stern that damaged the steering device, a fragment wounded Pelosi.
After some time, the Evangelista Toriccheli weapon was broken by a direct hit. Having exhausted all possibilities for resistance, the captain ordered the ship to sink. The survivors were taken aboard the destroyer Kandahar, moreover, Pelosi was met by British officers with a military salute. Onboard the destroyer, the Italians watched as the fire on Khartoum increased.
It ended with the explosion of ammunition and the destruction of the destroyer. Khartoum (1690 t, 1939 built) was considered the newest ship. The case when the submarine drowns the destroyer in an artillery battle has no analogues in the sea stories.
The British praised the valor of the Italian submariners. Pelosi and his senior officer in Aden were invited to an official dinner, where the commander of Khartoum was present, with whom they exchanged toasts. Then Pelosi was received as a senior naval officer in the Red Sea by Rear Admiral Murray.
In addition to the losses suffered by British ships, the British launched 700 shells and five hundred machine gun stores to sink one submarine. "Torichchel" went under the water with a waving battle flag, which can be raised only in the sight of the enemy. Valor appreciated, Pelonesi was awarded the highest military award of Italy "Medal D Or Al Valor Military" - Gold Medal for Military Valor.
However, the feat of captain Pelosi and his crew could not change the situation as a whole. Italian for the first two weeks of the fighting flotilla submarines in the Red Sea, decreased by exactly half. Three boats were lost and one surrendered. The achieved result was clearly lower than expected: the tanker, destroyer and sloop (corvette) were sunk and another sloop was damaged. Even taking into account that the Italian Somalia and Eritrea were separate enclaves, soon cut off from the mother country, nevertheless, under no circumstances could this result be considered satisfactory.
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